In the last post, I shared information on Samuel and Emily (Green)Wallace, and four of their fifteen children: Samuel Jr., Baby Boy, Sarah, and James. I will continue with their children. All of the children were born in Monson.

5. ALANSON was born about 1842. He was living with his parents when he followed his brother James and enlisted as a Private in Company A, Massachusetts 54th Regiment during the Civil War. He was mustered in at Camp Meigs, Massachusetts on March 30, 1863 at the same time as his brother James. Alanson was wounded at the assault on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. A ball passed through the flesh under his right arm and across his stomach. In spite of the injury, he was present for all muster rolls until his discharge on August 20, 1865.
Following his discharge he returned to Monson.

On November 30, 1871 he married Alice Cutter in Monson. I do not know if they had any children, but the marriage did not last long. By 1879 Alanson had moved to New Bedford and was living with his sister Sarah and her husband George Law. Alice died August 27, 1892 in Springfield.

Alanson married (2) Laura Stevens on July 21, 1896 in New Bedford. They had two daughters, Emily born in 1893, and Mary born in 1896. Alanson died October 16, 1896 in New Bedford of heart disease, almost three months after his marriage to Laura. He was 54 years old. Laura died August 11, 1897 of typhoid fever. She was 36 years old and left two orphan daughters.

Alanson applied for an invalid pension three times between 1891 and 1894 – all times denied. He claimed disability due to a wound received during the War. He also received a cut on the underside of the left ankle which he incurred while mowing with a scythe following the War. He claimed to have chronic diarrhea which was contracted at Morris Island, South Carolina in the summer of 1863. A later application also indicated he had heart disease and rheumatism. Medical examinations found him to be emaciated and poorly nourished. He also walked with a limp. Significant disability was not found and he was not awarded a pension.

Alanson’s occupation was a mason’s helper and a laborer.

6. BETSEY E. was born in June 1844. In 1870, Betsey was keeping house for Wayne Coles and his young son in Monson. In 1880 she was a servant in the home of the Sanford family in Palmer. On February 14, 1885 she married Enos Thompson in Amherst, Massachusetts. Enos died in 1889, leaving Betsey a widow at 45. By 1889 she was living in Springfield where she lived for the rest of her life. She worked both as a domestic servant and as a laundress. The 1900 census indicated that she had one child who was still living, but no other records were found of any children. Betsey was 78 years old when she died in 1922.

7. ROSANNA was born in May 1846. As early as fourteen years of age she was working as a domestic servant, while still attending school. In October 1863 she had a baby, who died four months later. The name of the father was not identified on the birth record. As early as 1866 she had established a relationship with Sidney Kelson and began having children with him. Sidney was a Civil War Veteran. He was born in 1828 and was 18 years older than Rosanna. According to Rosanna’s widow application for a pension based on his military service, they had nine children together. However, by 1900 only three of those children were living. Rosanna and Sidney married April 15, 1889. They married because Palmer authorities gave them the ultimatum to marry or move out of town. Sidney had been married to another woman. The other woman did remarry and died shortly before his marriage to Rosanna. Rosanna moved to Springfield shortly before Sidney’s death in 1901, and Sidney moved to the “almshouse” for care.

Comments on her application for a widow’s pension by those who reviewed her case stated that Sidney had stomach cancer and other ailments, and when he could no longer work Rosanna “practically” deserted him and moved to Springfield. He did not want to go with her, but did go to her house one day before his death. Her application for a widow’s pension was denied, largely because the investigators did not feel she was of good “moral” character. She was seeing other men before and after her husband’s death. While in Springfield, she worked as a laundress. Rosanna was 61 years old when she died on December 19, 1907 in Springfield from apoplexy (stroke).

8. EMILY M. was born in about 1849. On June 6, 1868, when she was 19 years old, she married William Mason. William was born in Maryland and was also 19 at the time of his marriage. Emily kept house for her family, while her husband farmed his own farm, and his sons, as they got older, worked on farms in the town. The Masons lived in Palmer. Emily died sometime between 1889 and 1891. Her husband remarried and moved to Worcester in 1891. The Mason’s had at least nine children, seven who were living at the time of Emily’s death. They were: William Jr., Samuel, Harry, Robert, Charles who died at three months from diphtheria, Harriet Elizabeth, Katherine Louisa who was adopted by her aunt and uncle, Sarah Wallace and George Pascal, Betsey, and Moses Aaron who was 20 months old when he died in 1889 from consumption.

9. INFANT BOY was born on July 20, 1849 and died before the 1850 Federal Census was taken.

10. NANCY M was born on August 31, 1851. In 1870, when she was 19 years old, she was working as a domestic servant. She had a son, Albert Wallis Smith, son of John Smith, who was born that year. Nancy and John were not married. Albert was 7 years old when he died in 1877 from diphtheria.

On November 24, 1880, Nancy married Edwin Russell King. Nancy was 29 and Edwin was 37. Edwin was from Monson and was a farmer and stonemason. He was also white. Edwin and Nancy had two children, Albert and Frank Edward; however both died very young and before 1900. Sadly, none of her children lived to adulthood. Nancy was 51 when she died on September 5, 1902 in Palmer from acute endocarditis (inflammation of the heart values). By 1910 Edwin was living in the Alms House in Palmer, and he died the following year.

11. FRANKLIN was born in November 1852. When he was 18 he was working in a grist mill. He died on May 13, 1873 from consumption (tuberculosis). He was 19 years old. He did not marry.

12. N was a baby girl born on October 23, 1853 and she died before 1855. Nothing else is known about her, and her name, found in birth records, was only referred to by an initial.

13. BABY BOY was born early in 1854 or 1855 and died on July 13, 1855 from cholera. A birth record was not found.

14. MARY MARILLA was born on August 24, 1855. In 1877, when she was 22, she had a daughter, Elizabeth. Her father is unknown. Elizabeth died the following year from diphtheria. In 1880 she was a live-in servant in the Samuel Cushman house. By 1892 she was living in Palmer. In 1900 she rented her home, and had three male boarders. One of those boarders was Adin Ryder, who was married at the time. She would later marry him.

Mary worked as a housekeeper. In 1903, her daughter Beatrice Madeline Wallace was born. Adin was her father. Beatrice married Ralph Johnson. Her son, Kenny Johnson, married Barbara Rose DeBoise, daughter of James and Ruth.

By 1910, Adin was no longer living in her home. The Federal Census said Mary had three children, but only one was living. By 1920, Adin is again living with her. By 1930, Adin and Mary have married. She stated in the Census that she was 57 at her first marriage. Mary died April 25, 1936, and is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Monson.

15. JULIA ANN was born on June 14, 1859. She lived her early years in Monson, but had moved to Palmer by 1886. She moved to Palmer about the same time her brother James moved. They both lived on Dublin Street during the same time period. Julia worked as a housekeeper and laundress. She never married. However, she had four children. The fathers of the children are not known. The children were: Otis, Horatio, Agnes and Mary. Julia was 53 years old when she died on July 12, 1912 from chronic nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys). She is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Monson.

With such a large family, Samuel and Emily have many, many descendants.

The next post will be on Samuel’s parents, James and Nancy Wallace, and his brothers and sisters that I have identified. James and Nancy were the first of the Wallace family to live in Monson.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all who are mothers, step mothers, and foster mothers.

Enjoy the beautiful weather that we are having. Memorial Day is in a few weeks. Don’t forget to visit the grave sites of your loved ones, and those who may have been forgotten. Let’s remember what they gave us that helps to make us who we are.

Until next time, as we continue to climb this branch of the tree…….
Teri

When James Wallace was born June 11, 1840, he was the fourth child of fifteen, and third son of his parents Samuel and Emily (Green) Wallace. One of his brothers had died before his birth, so he was greeted by his older brother Samuel and sister Sarah.

Both Wallace and Wallis are used in the records as the surname of this family. I will refer to the family as Wallace, which was more frequently used in latter generations.

When James was born in 1840, Martin Van Buren was the 8th President of the United States. Two years earlier the Cherokee Indians were forced off their farms and homes in the Southeast, and sent to Oklahoma, many dying along the way. In 1839, United States authorities took custody of the slave trading ship Amistad, and in 1841 the Supreme Court ruled that kidnapping and transporting Africans were against International treaties regarding the slave trade. and the Africans must be freed. The United States was in a major recession, which began during the Panic of 1837 and lasted until the mid-1840s. The Presidential election of 1840 saw Martin van Buren defeated by William Henry Harrison.

The Wallace family was one of the earliest black families to settle in Monson, Massachusetts. Monson is located is southwestern Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1775, when it was separated from Brimfield. Monson was primarily a farming community in the 18th and early 19th centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, and particularly with the addition of a railroad through the town in the mid-1800s, industry began to develop. Major industry included woolen mills and a granite quarry. Palmer borders Monson on the north, Brimfield and Wales on the east, Stafford, Connecticut on the south, and Hampden and Wilbraham on the west.

In 1840, 3,146 individuals lived in Monson. This included 26 individuals of color. There were three black families – the Wallis, Powers and Johnson families. Twenty-one of the persons of color lived in these three families. The other five non-white individuals lived in white households. By 1850 the number of blacks in the town had increased to 65.

James’ parents owned their own small farm, which was located near the other black families in town. His father, as well as his brothers, worked for other farmers in the area, in addition to farming their own land. His mother, and probably his sisters, worked for other families in town, doing laundry and housekeeping.

James grew up working on the local farms, and hanging out with his neighbors and friends. However, when he was 15 he was living in the House of Corrections in Springfield as an inmate. I have not found information on why he was incarcerated, or for how long. By 1860 he was once again at home living with his parents.

On March 3, 1863 James enlisted in the Army as a Private, and served in the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, Company A during the remainder of the Civil War. The Massachusetts 54th was the first troop of black soldiers organized in the North, and in Massachusetts. His enlistment records say that he was 5’7” tall, with brown complexion and dark eyes and hair.

He proudly served his country. He participated in the siege of Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The 54th suffered a large number of casualties in this battle, his brother was wounded, and one of his friends from Monson was killed. During his service, he saw battle, marched throughout the South, including South Carolina and Florida, and suffered many of the illnesses soldiers encountered in the Southern climates, including malaria and smallpox. He was mustered out of service on August 20, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina.

After discharge from the Army, he returned to his parents’ home and spent the next three months in bed. It appeared that he had malaria and he was treated by a local doctor. It was about two years before he could begin working again, but he was never able to work at the same level that he worked before the War. He worked as a farmer, laborer and a stone mason.

There were at least three women in his life in the late 1860s, as indicated by birth records in which he was listed as the father. I’m sure that got a little complicated in such a small town!

Johanna Murphy, white and born in Ireland, and James had a baby girl born March 6, 1868. The baby died April 29, 1868 from inflammation of the bowels. In 1870, Johanna was living in the home of Henry Wallace, uncle of James, and Henry’s son Henry C., cousin of James. No additional information was found on Johanna.

James and Anna Marie Gibbons began their relationship about this time, and their daughter, Martha H. was born May 2, 1869. James and Anna would not marry until January 10, 1895.

His first marriage was to Mary Longto. Although there is no documentation of the marriage in the town records, the clerk stated in James’ affidavit for his pension that the records were incomplete, with many missing. James indicated he had been married previously when he and Anna applied for a marriage license.

Mary Longto was born about 1848 in Canada (Some records say she was born in Malone, New York which is on the Canadian border), and was white. They probably married between 1869 and 1870. In 1870, they were living together and he was working on a farm and she was home taking care of the house. James and Mary had at least five children.

1. Ellen “Ella” Louisa was born in December 1870. She married Walter E. Brooks on May 12, 1897 in Boston. Walter worked as a waiter in Boston hotel restaurants. They had one son, Earl Henry Brooks. Earl served in the Army during World War II. I haven’t found a record of Ella’s death, but believe it was between 1930 and 1932.
2. Baby girl was born, and died, December 19, 1871.
3.  Henry Frank was born December 25, 1874, and died October 13, 1880 from the croup.
4. Edwin was born in March 1877, and died October 24, 1878 from typhoid fever.
5. Alice C. was born December 21, 1879, and died before 1918. She is not listed as a surviving child in her father’s obituary.

There might be one additional child. The 1880 census lists Frank, 6 years old, and Henry, 5 years old. I cannot find additional information on both boys. How heartbreaking it must be to lose so many of your children at such an early age. I can only find records of one child living to adulthood – Ella Louisa.

No death records have been found for Mary. She probably died before 1895, and James and Anna’s marriage.

James first applied for a disability pension as a result of his military service in 1888. He claimed rheumatism, varioloid (mild form of smallpox), fever and ague (malaria, resulting in fevers, sweating) as the reason for disability. In his application, he began having problems with rheumatism beginning in January 1864 during a march from Jacksonville, Florida toward Lake City. The cause was sleeping on the ground and exposure. In April 1865 he had varioloid and was sent to the hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. He was hospitalized about 12 days. He received light duty at that time until the close of war. He had his first attack of fever and ague at Gallops Island near Boston about three days before discharge. His application was denied.

He again applied for a disability pension in 1901, 1903, 1904 and it was finally approved in 1905 because he was over 62 years of age. All examinations said he was not sufficiently disabled in order to collect a pension. However, the final physical in the pension records stated there were significant effects and limitations because of rheumatism and other conditions caused by aging and the type of work he did. Later applications also stated that he had consumption (tuberculosis).

James was unable to write his name at the time he joined the army. He learned how to write after his discharge. However, according to affidavits included in the pension records, he did attend school. He does not say how many years he completed.

By 1901 he and his wife Anna were renting their home in Palmer on Dublin Street near the railroad tracks. He and Anna continued to live in various residences on Dublin Street until his death. James was 78 years old when he died on May 19, 1918 from chronic intestinal nephritis, which would have resulted in kidney failure. He had been ill for two years.

Obituary
Death of James Wallis

James Wallis, 77, died Tuesday morning at 2:45 at his home on Dublin street. He was a veteran of the Civil war, serving in Co. A of the 34th (54th) Massachusetts regiment, and a well known Negro resident of the town for years. Besides his widow he leaves three sisters, Miss Mary Wallis of Palmer, Mrs. Sarah Lawtor of Onset and Mrs. Betsey Thompson of Springfield, and two daughters, Mrs. Louise Brooks of Boston and Mrs. Charles Andrews of Palmer. The funeral was held from Phillips’ undertaking rooms this afternoon at 2 o’clock, with burial in Monson.
The Palmer Journal, Friday, May 31, 1918

James is buried at Hillside Cemetery, Monson in a lot owned by the Marcus Keep Post G.A.R. Lot 115, Section 9. This lot and grave is in the center section of the graveyard near the road.

The next story will be on Samuel Wallace and Emily Green, the parents of James.

Sunny today and the temperature has hit 60 degrees! Flowers are beginning to bloom and Spring is on its way. Have a great week.

Teri